Disclaimer: I do not own A:TLA or any of it's characters. The only thing I own is my OC.
The Six Rules:
Rule Number One: Alec won't warn the Gaang about things in advance or solve their problems for them, with a few rare exceptions.
Rule Number Two: Only Alec has the right to tell people his true origins, and he will mostly limit this to group members. He will tell new group members his secret as soon as they join the Gaang.
Rule Number Three: There are some changes Alec wants to make, and he will use his knowledge of the future to make those changes.
Rule Number Four: Sometimes, to make a change, Alec will act in a way that doesn't make sense. If that's necessary, he'll tell the Gaang "I need you to absolutely trust me." After he says that, the Gaang has to either do whatever he asks or leave him to do what he needs to do.
Rule Number Five: After a change happens, Alec will tell the Gaang what happened in the original story, in the interest of transparency.
Rule Number Six: If a major change happens that Alec doesn't expect, the Gaang will have a meeting ASAP. In this meeting, Alec will break Rule One and tell them all relevant information that will help them figure out how to respond to the change.
Chapter 20:
Revelations in the Swamp
Alec POV
We flew east away from Omashu for several hours at Appa's top speed. We wanted to put as much distance between us and Azula as possible. After the sun set, Appa got too tired to continue and we made camp. We sat around the fire and ate dinner.
Aang looked at me from across the fire with a curious expression. "What did you want to accomplish back there?"
I looked him in the eye. "Two things." I answered. "First, I was trying to drive a wedge between Azula and her friends. Azula's powerful, but she can't take us all on by herself." I smirked. "Judging by their expressions, I think it worked."
Katara raised an eyebrow. "What part of that meeting made you think that?" She inquired.
I laced my fingers together. "For Ty Lee, the fact that Azula won't drop the treason and murder charges might make her start asking questions."
Sokka looked totally lost. "What do you mean?"
"She might ask herself, 'if the Fire Nation is lying about Alec, are they lying about anything else?'." I replied. "If I can talk to her alone again, I can answer that question."
Aang looked curious. "What else is the Fire Nation lying about?"
I looked him in the eye. "Your people, for one thing." I replied. "When Fire Lord Sozin came up with the idea to attack the Air Nomads, he realized that he needed an excuse. So, he lied to his people and told them that the Air Nomads were planning to take over the world, and that he needed to wipe them out to stop them."
Everyone's eyes widened in horror, and there were several seconds of silence. "Something I've always wondered," Katara began, "Why did Sozin attack the Air Nomads?"
"He was trying to kill Aang." I answered bluntly. "He wanted to take over the world, he knew that the Avatar had the best chance of stopping him, and he knew the Avatar would be an Air Nomad, so he attacked when the comet came."
Aang looked down sadly. I decided to continue my original point. "So, I figure if I can get Ty Lee alone and tell her that, she might start asking questions that Azula won't like, and that'll throw off their teamwork."
Sokka nodded. "Okay, but what about Mai?"
I smirked. "Mai was the easy part. We gave her brother back for nothing and we didn't mistreat him. Azula admitted, in Mai's presence, that she wasn't going to do the deal. Tell me, who do you think looks better in Mai's eyes?"
Sokka smirked and chuckled. "Not bad, not bad." He praised. He stopped laughing and frowned. "It's kind of strange, actually. Azula struck me as a strategist. I'm surprised she made those two mistakes in front of her friends."
"That's one of her weaknesses." I explained. "She doesn't think Mai and Ty Lee would ever go against her, no matter what she does."
Katara looked at me. "You said you wanted to do two things at that meeting. What was the other thing?"
I took a deep breath. "I was trying to get inside Azula's head." I answered. "She's normally an extremely precise and deadly fighter, but if she doubts herself or gets really angry, she gets sloppy and makes mistakes."
Aang looked at me. "I get that you were trying to help, but did you have to lie to her like that?" He asked.
I tilted my head in confusion. "What are you talking about?" I asked. "What lie?"
Aang frowned. "I'm talking about when you told her that her father wouldn't do the trade if she were the hostage." He responded. "That was a pretty mean lie to tell." The others looked at me accusingly. Oh right, they didn't know Ozai the way I did.
I shook my head sadly. "I wasn't lying." I said lowly.
Aang looked at me with wide eyes. "What?" He whispered.
I looked around the group. "Let me tell you something about Ozai," I said bitterly, "He doesn't give a fuckabout anything or anyone except himself, and his ambition to rule the world. If we had Azula as a hostage with a knife to her throat and told Ozai to stop the war or else, I think the first thing he'd do is find a bride half his age and get her pregnant as soon as possible."
Everyone looked horrified by this. "Are you sure?" Katara whispered.
I nodded. "Look at what he did to Zuko." I pointed out.
Suddenly everyone looked confused. "What do you mean?" Aang inquired.
I nearly facepalmed. Me and my big mouth. I hadn't told them Zuko's backstory. I didn't want to tell the whole story without Zuko's permission. I just had to give them the basic info for now. "Among other things, he banished Zuko and told him he could only return if he captured you."
Aang's eyes went wide. Sokka looked at me. "What did Zuko do that was so bad?"
"He spoke out of turn." I answered bluntly.
Sokka gave me a flat look. "No, seriously, what did Zuko do?"
I returned the look. "I'm completely serious."
Everyone's eyes widened in horror. Katara then frowned. "Wasn't Zuko's mom around? Why didn't she stop his banishment?" She questioned.
"Ursa, Zuko's mom, disappeared five years ago. Zuko was banished after she disappeared." I explained.
Katara looked at me. "Do you know what happened to her?"
I frowned. "Kind of." I admitted. "I know why she vanished, but I don't know where she went afterwards. I do know that she's still alive." I looked back at Aang. "I've gotten off-topic. My point is, I wasn't lying to Azula, and she knows that, based on what happened to Zuko."
I yawned. "We should probably get some sleep and get moving at dawn. I think we should put another day's travel between us and Omashu before we start training again." I suggested.
We cleaned up our dinner, and I put out the campfire.
Once dawn came, I woke up everyone else at camp so we could have a quick breakfast and get moving. We flew east for several hours. Katara and I read scrolls from our respective boxes, and Sokka sharpened his machete. Around midday, we were flying over a massive swamp. Also, we were slowly losing altitude.
Sokka noticed our descent. He stopped sharpening his machete and turned towards Aang, who was steering Appa, and looking down at the swamp, almost like he was entranced. "Hey, you taking us down for a reason?" Sokka asked. Aang didn't respond. Sokka raised his voice. "Hey! Why are we going down?"
Aang snapped out of it. "What? I didn't even notice." He said, confused.
"Are you noticing now?" Sokka asked sarcastically.
Katara moved beside Sokka in the front of the saddle. "Is something wrong?"
Aang focused his gaze down at the swamp. "I know this is gonna sound weird, but I think the swamp is…calling to me."
Oh right. The Foggy Swamp. Overflowing with spiritual energy, and home to a bunch of lovely creatures, like catgators, possum chickens, and elbow leeches. Also the home of weird spirit visions and the Foggy Swamp Tribe. It was basically Louisiana without the good cajun food.
Sokka held a hand to his stomach. "Is it telling you where we can get something to eat?"
I rolled my eyes. Sokka had a one-track mind when he was hungry.
Aang shook his head. "No, I…I think it wants us to land there."
Sokka looked skeptical. "No offense to the swamp, but I don't see any land there to land on."
Aang looked at me. "You said to learn earthbending I would have to wait and listen. Now I'm actually hearing the earth. Do you want me to ignore it?"
I shrugged. "Do whatever you think is right." I knew it wouldn't matter. The swamp wasn't about to let us go without making us stop by.
Katara, Sokka, and Momo looked over the edge of the saddle. "I don't know," Katara said uncertainly, "There's something ominous about that place."
Momo hid back in the saddle, and Appa groaned. "See," Sokka pointed out. "Even Appa and Momo don't like it here."
Aang shrugged. "Okay, since you feel so strongly about this, bye swamp." He cracked the reins. "Yip yip!"
Appa groaned and flew upward, away from the swamp. I heard a noise from behind us. I turned and saw a massive tornado headed right for us! "Uh…" I got out.
Sokka turned around and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "You better throw in an extra 'yip'! We gotta move!" He exclaimed in panic.
Appa flew faster, trying to escape the tornado. Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough. When the tornado got closer, Sokka got yanked from the saddle by the sheer force of the wind. Katara and I managed to grab his hands and keep him from getting sucked into the twister. Aang jumped into the saddle and created an air shield around Appa, stabilizing the air and dropping Sokka into the saddle, unharmed. The wind sucked Appa into the vortex. Aang struggled to maintain the air shield, but the tornado was too powerful. Aang's air shield broke, and he, Katara, Sokka, and I got sucked into the tornado, then got thrown into the swamp below.
I fell down quite a long distance, then I started hitting branches and vines. Plus side, they slowed down my fall. Downside, they hurt like hell. I must have crashed through dozens of branches and vines. Eventually, I splashed down into the shallow water of the swamp floor. I got up with a groan and checked myself over. I was bruised like a peach that someone dropped down a flight of stairs, and I was covered in light scratches. Luckily, nothing was broken.
I looked around and saw Sokka and Katara picking themselves up off the ground. Aang was already on his feet. He probably used airbending to slow down his fall. Aang looked around the swamp and at us. "Where's Appa and Momo?" He asked. We didn't respond. He jumped up several trees and took a look around from an elevated position. "Appa! Momo!" He shouted. We didn't hear any response.
Katara looked over at Sokka. She pointed her finger at him. "Sokka, you've got an elbow leech." She stated.
Sokka panicked and spun around, trying to find it. "Where?! Where?!"
Katara crossed her arms. "Where do you think?"
Sokka looked down at his right elbow and spotted the leech. He ripped it off his arm and threw it behind Katara. "Why do things keep attaching to me?!"
Aang dropped down from the trees. Katara turned towards him. "You didn't find them?" She asked.
Aang shook his head. "No, and the tornado…it just disappeared."
I looked at Katara. "We should probably get moving, but first, could you please patch us up? I've got a lot of cuts that I don't want to get infected."
She nodded, and bent some of the swamp water over my cuts and bruises, healing me. She did the same with Sokka and Aang, before healing herself. We began trekking through the swamp. It was pretty annoying to get through. The trees were thick, and thick vines covered the gaps between the trees. After about half an hour of trying to squeeze through gaps and untangle vines, Sokka gave up and started cutting them with his machete.
"We better speed things up." He said.
Aang looked uncertain. "Maybe we should be a little nicer to the swamp."
Sokka kept cutting. "Aang, these are just plants." He reasoned. "Do you want me to say 'please' and 'thank you' as I swing my machete back and forth?" He turned to me. "Could you use your fire daggers to give me a hand here?"
I shook my head. "If I do that, I might accidentally set the whole swamp on fire." I pointed out.
"Besides," Katara added, "Maybe we should listen to Aang. Something about this place feels…alive."
I knew what she meant. The air in the swamp was thick, and not just with humidity. It felt like the air itself was humming with some kind of energy. This place was definitely alive in some way.
Sokka apparently didn't feel what Aang, Katara, and I were feeling. Maybe it was a bender thing? Who knows? "I'm sure there's lots of things that are alive here and if we don't wanna wind up getting eaten by them, we need to find Appa as fast as we can."
Hours later, darkness had fallen, and we still hadn't found Appa or Momo. We were walking along large tree roots, trying to avoid stepping in the murky swamp. We didn't want to give the leeches anything to grab hold of. We yelled out for Appa and Momo every few seconds, but to no avail.
Sokka gave up. "There's no way they can hear us and no way we can see them. We'll have to make camp for the night."
A bunch of flies flew and surrounded me and Sokka. Sokka swung his machete at them. I opted for a more permanent solution, and spun a fire shield around myself, incinerating all the flies instantly. A bubble of swamp gas rose from the water below us. It burst and a small cloud of gas floated towards us. I made sure to stop firebending before the cloud got close.
"What was that?" Katara asked, slightly alarmed.
"Nothing, just swamp gas." Sokka said dismissively. "Look, there's nothing supernatural going on here."
The swamp gas cloud reached us, and we smelled it. It smelled like rotten eggs. Lovely. Katara and I held our noses. Aang gagged. Sokka waved his hand in front of his face. He turned towards me. "Can't you just burn the gas away?" He complained.
I shook my head. "Swamp gas is highly flammable. I might start an out-of-control fire." I explained.
Suddenly, we all heard a terrifying scream. We all shouted out and huddled together, looking around for the source. We spotted a small white bird on a branch of a nearby tree. It opened its beak and made the screaming sound, then it fluttered off.
"I think we should build a fire." Sokka suggested, clearly afraid. He ran over to some roots and started chopping them with his machete.
Aang took a few steps towards him. "Sokka, the longer we're here, the more I think you shouldn't be doing that." He warned.
Sokka didn't share his concerns. "No, I asked the swamp. It said this was fine." He grabbed a nearby root. "Right swamp?" He shook the root. "No problem, Sokka." He said, doing the worst ventriloquist act I'd ever seen in my life.
We quickly built a fire and sat around it, trying to keep calm. We were all getting hungry, and Appa had all our food supplies. We needed to find him tomorrow. I knew we would, but going without a meal tends to make one grumpy and concerned. Katara glanced around the area. "Does anyone else get the feeling that we're being watched?" She asked.
I nodded. Sokka was busy trying to swat a fly. "Please, we're all alone out here." He said.
Sokka used his machete to try to scare the fly off, but suddenly the fly turned into a large ball of light, about the size of a basketball. The light flew away from us and into the swamp, illuminating over a dozen pairs of shining eyes staring at us.
"Except for them." Aang pointed out, scared.
We all huddled together. "Right, except for them." Sokka agreed.
We all ended up sitting back to back in a circle, and tried to get some sleep.
There's nothing quite like being woken up by a swamp vine wrapping itself around you and pulling you away from your friends and family. I don't recommend it. The sudden jerk of the vine woke me up, and it pulled me at least a dozen feet before I could react. Judging by the sounds of the screams from the others, I wasn't the only one who got pulled.
I made a fire dagger and cut the vine that was wrapped around my leg. I got up and took a stance. Multiple vines came at me. I cut them all with fire daggers before they got close and took off away from the direction the vines came from. I jet-stepped and ran as fast as I could. When I was confident that I'd lost the vines, I took a look around.
I was alone. That wasn't good. "Aang? Katara? Sokka?" I called out. No luck. We all got pulled and ran off in different directions. I sat down on a stump and tried to think. What happened in the original story? Oh right, swamp visions led the others to the banyan-grove tree in the center of the swamp. If I could find which way led to the tree, I could probably find them. But how?
I looked up and saw that the branches of the nearby trees were quite large, and appeared to be sturdy. I did some quick mental figuring and squatted down, preparing myself. I jet-stepped up a series of branches that led me to the top of a large tree. I looked around and saw it, standing far above the other trees in the swamp. The banyan-grove tree. That thing was bigger than some mountains. It must be thousands of years old. I shook it off. I had time to admire the tree later, I needed to get to it now. I jet-stepped back down the branches and started walking in the direction of the banyan-grove tree.
A few hours after I started walking towards the tree, I heard a noise. It sounded human, almost like…giggling? Was this like that screaming bird, but just a giggling one instead? I made my way towards the source of the noise. I brushed aside some vines and ended up in a clearing.
Then my breath caught in my throat.
I saw a little boy, maybe about nine or ten years old. He wore a red sleeveless shirt and black pants with knee-high brown boots. His face was what scared the crap out of me.
He had my face. He looked exactly like me. Same haircut, skin tone, and everything. I looked at the kid. "Who are you?" I asked in a whisper.
The kid perked up and ran towards me, occasionally doing somersaults as he ran. He stopped right in front of me and beamed up at me. "Hi Daddy!" He said brightly.
My eyes popped out of my head. Daddy? I didn't have a kid! There's no way I…oh, that's what was going on here! This kid was my swamp vision!
"Um…hi." I said awkwardly. "What's your name?" I asked.
The kid tilted his head, slightly confused. "Daddy, it's me!" He insisted. "I'm your son, Roku."
Roku? I named my kid after Aang's predecessor? I guess it wasn't a bad name, all things considered. I took a closer look at the kid. There was no way he wasn't mine. We looked exactly alike. Well, almost exactly alike. There was one difference. My eyes were brown, but this kid's eyes were silver.
An idea occurred to me. If this kid was my son, he must know who his mom is! I could find out who my soulmate was right now! "So, Roku, could you tell me your mother's name, and when I'll meet her?" I asked.
Roku giggled. "Silly Daddy, you know Mommy."
I nearly facepalmed. Of course a swamp vision wouldn't give me a direct answer. I just gave up. "So, Roku, do you know who Aang, Katara, and Sokka are?" I inquired. I wondered if this kid knew who they were, or where they were right now.
Roku nodded. "Sure! I know my Aunt and Uncles!"
I smiled. This kid was adorable. "Have you seen them in this swamp?" I asked.
He nodded again and pointed to his one o'clock. "They're in that direction, Daddy." He reported.
I nodded. "Thanks. Do you know if they're okay?" I was pretty sure they would be, but I wanted to be certain.
Roku frowned. "They aren't hurt, but their auras look pretty orange. They're worried about something."
I did a double take. "You can see auras?" I questioned.
Roku nodded proudly. "Yep! Just like Mommy!"
My mouth ran dry. Could it be? I knelt down so I was eye-to-eye with Roku. I looked into his eyes. They were silver, like moonlight. I had only seen eyes like those in one other person. I remembered Lady Ài's words.
"The eyes are the windows to the soul."
The realization hit me like a thunderbolt. "You have your mother's eyes." I whispered.
Roku smiled. "That's what you and Mommy always say." Roku disappeared, leaving me staring at a tree stump.
Holy fuck.
Ty Lee was my soulmate. I couldn't believe it. This was unreal…I didn't have time to process this right now. I had to get back to the group. I walked in the direction that Roku pointed.
Sure enough, a few minutes later I heard familiar voices in the distance.
"What do you guys think you're doing? I've been looking all over for you!" I heard Sokka exclaim. I ran and brushed through some vines and saw Aang, Katara, and Sokka on the ground.
Katara put her hand on her head, nursing a headache. "Well, I've been wandering around looking for you!" She shot back.
I made my presence known. "I was looking for this tree, I knew you'd end up here."
The rest of them looked at me. I walked over to them and jet-stepped onto the tree root they were on. I helped Sokka up to his feet.
"I was chasing some girl." Aang said, embarrassed that he wasn't actively looking for the rest of us. He helped Katara up to her feet.
"What girl?" She asked.
Aang rubbed his ear. "I don't know." He admitted. "I heard laughing and I saw some girl in a fancy dress."
Sokka rolled his eyes. "Well, there must be a tea party here and we just didn't get our invitations!" He quipped.
Katara looked down sadly. "I thought I saw Mom." She said quietly. I felt bad for her. The swamp was a real dick for playing with her emotions like that. Aang looked at her with compassion.
Sokka looked down for a second. "Look, we were all just scared and hungry and our minds were playing tricks on us. That's why we saw things out there."
Katara looked up. "You saw something too?"
Sokka looked away for a moment. "I thought I saw Suki." He confessed. "She told me that if I didn't grow a spine and find you guys, I'd never see her again."
Interesting. He saw Yue in the original story. Then again, it made sense that he didn't see her this time. She wasn't dead, and Sokka wasn't in love with her.
Sokka kept talking. "But that doesn't prove anything." He insisted. "Look, I think about her a lot, and you," He indicated Katara, "Saw Mom, someone you miss a lot."
I decided to speak up. "I've never met the person I saw in my vision before."
Everyone looked at me. "What did you see?" Aang inquired.
I shook my head. "I'll tell you later, I'm still trying to come to terms with it." I said quietly.
Aang shrugged before turning to Sokka. "What about me?" Aang asked. "I didn't know the girl I saw, and all our visions led us right here."
"Oh, you'll know who she is soon." I thought with amusement. "She'll be putting you through earthbending bootcamp before too long."
Katara looked around. "Okay…So where's here? The middle of the swamp?"
We all looked up and saw that we were standing on one of the roots of the banyan-grove tree. It was awe-inspiring to be this close. Too bad we would be fighting near it soon.
Wait.
I had an idea. I didn't want to get in a fight. I figured if I said the right thing, at the right time, and loud enough, we could avoid a fight here.
"It's the heart of the swamp." Aang said. "It's been calling us here, I can feel it."
Time to make my move. "But why would the swamp call the Avatar here?" I said, making sure to project 'the Avatar' loud and clear.
Sure enough, a massive seaweed monster with a wooden mask burst out of the water. Aang, Katara, and Sokka got in stances, but it wasn't necessary. A hole opened up in the seaweed monster's torso, revealing a short, pudgy man with gray hair and a full beard. Unfortunately for our eyes, said man was wearing nothing but a loincloth made of plants and leaves.
The man put his hands up in surrender, and looked at Aang. "Are you the Avatar?" He inquired. Aang nodded and the rest of the group got out of their stances slowly. "Come with me." The man said.
The man led us to the top of the banyan-grove tree, giving us a bird's-eye view of the swamp. "So, who are you then?" Katara asked.
The man bent a vine out of his way and kept leading us forward. "I protect the swamp from folks that want to hurt it, like this fella with his big knife." He explained.
"See, completely reasonable." Sokka said, putting his machete away. "Not a monster, just a regular guy defending his home, nothing mystical about it." He insisted. This arbitrary skepticism was getting a little annoying.
"Oh, the swamp is a mystical place, all right." The man stated. "It's sacred. I reached enlightenment right here under the banyan-grove tree." He turned to face us and sat down on the tree. "I heard it calling to me, just like you did."
"Sure you did, It seems real chatty." Sokka replied with sarcasm.
The man didn't pick up on it. "See, this whole swamp is actually just one tree spread out over miles. Branches spread and sink, take root, and spread some more. One big, living organism. Just like the entire world."
Aang looked at the man skeptically. "I get how the tree is one big thing, but the whole world?"
The man nodded. "Sure." He insisted. "You think you're any different from me, or your friends, or this tree? If you listen hard enough, you can hear every living thing breathing together. You can feel everything growing. We're all living together, even if most folks don't act like it. We all have the same roots and we are all branches of the same tree."
The four of us sat down, listening to him. "But what did our visions mean?" Katara asked.
"In the swamp, we see visions of people we've lost, people we loved, folks we think are gone." He explained. "But the swamp tells us they're not. We're still connected to them. Time is an illusion, and so is death."
"And so are pants, apparently." I thought to myself.
"But what about my vision?" Aang wondered. "It was someone I had never met."
The man smiled. "You're the Avatar. You tell me."
Aang looked down, trying to figure it out. "Time is an illusion. So, it's someone I will meet."
The man nodded.
Sokka was fed up with the philosophy lesson. "Sorry to interrupt the lesson, but we still need to find Appa and Momo."
Aang stood up. "I think I know how to find them." He knelt down and placed his hand on the tree. "Everything is connected." He said. The tattoo on his hand glowed, and a trail of light zigzagged down the tree like lightning, darting off into the swamp. Suddenly, Aang stood up. "Come on! We've got to hurry!" He insisted.
The four of us followed Aang as he ran off into the swamp.
After a little bit of running, we started to hear singing. Horrible, off-key, twangy singing. I'm surprised I didn't hear banjos along with it. We saw two canoes moving slowly through the swampy water. One of them was towing Appa, who was caught in a net. Each canoe had two people in it, each of whom was dressed like the man we had just met.
Before we could try any diplomacy, Katara sent a massive wave of water, destroying the canoe that wasn't towing Appa, and throwing the two men inside into the water. Aang, Katara, and I went onto the branch. Aang was not happy with Appa's predicament. "Appa!" He exclaimed. He shot a massive column of air at the other boat, knocking one of the guys into the water. It also opened up a small tied-off bag in the boat. Momo flew out of the bag. I took careful aim and used a fire blade to cut through the ropes tying Appa's net to the canoe.
The other man in the front of the boat started to panic. "We're under attack!" He exclaimed. He bent a wave of water towards the three of us, but Katara stopped it with her waterbending. The wave just stood at a stalemate.
Katara's eyes widened in realization. "Hey, you guys are waterbenders!"
The man's eyes widened. He dropped the wave and smiled. "You too? That means we're kin!" He exclaimed happily. Katara recoiled in slight disgust.
"Suddenly, I'm really glad I'm adopted." I muttered.
"Shut up." She retorted.
Sokka and the man we met earlier joined us on the branch. The man in the canoe looked up at the other man. "Hey Huu!" He greeted. "How you been?"
"You know, scared some folks, swung some vines, the usual." Huu replied breezily.
Sokka looked at Huu. "Huu?" He asked, not believing that was his real name.
Huu cleared up the misunderstanding with the Foggy Swamp Tribe, and they invited us to join them for dinner. Some brief introductions followed. The two men in the boat introduced themselves as Due and Tho. Due was the one who said he and Katara were 'kin'. Tho was the singer. They were surprised about my firebending, but they weren't hostile, because I was with the Avatar and their 'kin'.
We did a quick inventory check to make sure Appa hadn't lost anything valuable. My scroll box was still there, and all the scrolls were still inside. Thankfully, the only thing we lost was one of Sokka's shirts, which we could replace. Heck, we just needed to get a white shirt and dye it blue with some of the squid ink we still had.
The food was pretty good. I just made sure to not eat the roasted swamp flies. I was hungry, but I wasn't 'ready-to-eat-a-bug' hungry. Due looked at Sokka and me eating. "How you like that possum chicken?" He asked.
I nodded. "It's pretty good." I said. Chicken was pretty hard to screw up, you just had to make sure you didn't overcook it or undercook it, and it would taste just fine.
"Tastes just like arctic hen." Sokka stated. He looked at the rest of the swampbenders. "So, why were you guys so interested in eating Appa?" He pointed to a catgator resting behind Tho. "You've got plenty of those big things wandering around."
Due looked aghast. "You want me to eat ol' Slim?" He asked, horrified. "He's like a member of the family!"
Due pulled a roasted fish off a stick and threw it to Slim, who ate it happily. Sokka smiled. "Nice Slim." He threw a bug at the catgator. It bounced off his nose and he growled at Sokka, making him cower.
Due laughed. "Oh, he don't eat no bugs! That's people food." He explained.
Tho looked at Katara. "Where'd you say you was from?"
"The South Pole." She answered politely.
Tho smiled. "Didn't know there was waterbenders anywhere but here. They got a nice swamp there, do they?"
"No, it's all ice and snow." Katara replied.
Tho frowned. "Hmm, no wonder you left."
Sokka looked at Katara. "Well, I hope you realize now that nothing strange was going on here." He raised his arms for emphasis. "Just a bunch of greasy people living in a swamp."
"What about the visions?" Katara retorted.
"I told you, we were hungry. I'm eating a giant bug!" Sokka answered. He held up said bug before he took a bite out of its abdomen. He swallowed it with some difficulty before he stuck his tongue out.
Aang wasn't convinced. "But what about when the tree showed me where Appa and Momo were?"
"That's Avatar stuff, that doesn't count." Sokka insisted. He turned to Huu. "The only thing I can't figure out is how you made that tornado that sucked us down."
Huu looked confused. "I can't do anything like that. I just bend the water in the plants." He answered.
Sokka shrugged. "Well, no accounting for weather. Still, there's absolutely nothing mysterious about the swamp."
I'd had just about enough of Sokka's dismissive skepticism. I gave him a sharp look. "Sokka, this place is full of spiritual energy. Heck, on the solstice it's probably a massive spirit party. Tornados don't just appear and disappear like that. You can't ignore this much stuff that you can't explain away."
That shut Sokka up. I looked at the rest of our group. "We should probably get some sleep and head out in the morning." I suggested.
I didn't sleep well that night. My vision kept bothering me. I was expecting my soulmate to be some random girl, not an actual character from the story. I woke up at dawn, but I wasn't as energetic as normal. When the others woke up and ate breakfast, they noticed the state I was in.
"Are you okay?" Katara asked.
I shook my head. "The vision I saw yesterday is bothering me."
"What did you see?" Aang asked.
I looked up. "Let's get flying first. I'll tell you once we're in the air."
We decided to fly southwest from the swamp. We figured that since Azula saw us fly east, she would be heading that way, and flying either southwest or northwest would throw off her trail, and we would still be far away enough from her that she wouldn't find us. We chose southwest for one simple reason: flying northwest would take us past the Great Divide. We had no desire to ever go back there.
Once we got out of the swamp and started flying southwest, Aang jumped back in the saddle and sat down, facing me. We'd put Appa on 'autopilot' a few times before. He was smart enough to keep a steady heading without guidance.
The three of them turned to face me. Sokka spoke first. "Enough suspense. What did you see in that swamp yesterday that's got you so spooked?"
If I wasn't still coming to terms with what I saw, I would've rolled my eyes. Sokka was just as tactful as ever.
Katara gave him a brief glare, but then she turned her gaze to me with kindness in her eyes. "Alec, please tell us."
I took a deep breath. "I saw a kid, he looked about nine or ten years old." I began. I looked up at their faces. "He called me 'Daddy'." I said.
Katara's eyes bugged out of her head. Sokka's eyebrows shot up. Aang, however, looked thoughtful. "Was it a vision of your future, like mine was?"
I nodded. "I think so."
Katara regained her composure. "Just curious, but did he tell you his name?"
I nodded. "Yeah, he said it was Roku."
Aang looked touched. "You named your kid after my past life?"
I smiled. "I did." I frowned. "Or, I will, I guess."
Sokka narrowed his eyes. "Wait, if you just learned that you have a kid in the future, why did that throw you off so much?"
"That wasn't what threw me off." I admitted. I looked down. "Based on what the kid said, I figured out who my soulmate is."
There was complete silence…for about five seconds. Then Katara squealed and wrapped me in a bone-crushing hug. "I'm so happy for you!" She gushed. I swear I could feel my ribs straining. How was she this strong? Bending doesn't necessarily translate to muscle strength.
"Katara." I got out in a strangled tone. "I'm happy that you're happy, but could you please let me breathe?"
Katara backed off. "Sorry." She said sheepishly. Then she looked at me. "I thought you'd be happy about this. Why do you look so troubled?"
"It's because of who she is." I replied.
Aang tilted his head. "Who is it?"
I took a deep breath. "Ty Lee."
Once again, the group was completely silent and wide-eyed. This time, Katara didn't give me a hug. After a few seconds, Sokka spoke up. "You've gotta be wrong." He insisted.
I shook my head. "I don't think I am." I responded. "All the evidence points to Ty Lee."
Aang looked at me with a curious expression. "What evidence do you have?"
Katara nodded. "Maybe if you tell us, we can point out if there's any flaw in your logic."
I took a deep breath. "Well, first of all, Lady Ài told me that my soulmate is a kind and pure soul."
Sokka pointed at me "Aha!" He interrupted. "Ty Lee's working for the Fire Nation. She's not a kind and pure soul."
I shook my head. "Sokka, she's probably the nicest person in all four nations." I retorted. "Just because she works for Azula doesn't mean she's evil. She doesn't know about the evil stuff the Fire Nation has done. Every Fire Lord since Sozin has lied to justify the war. She doesn't know that."
Sokka put his hand down. "Sorry," He said, "I guess I just thought the Fire Nation had to be bad."
I shrugged. "I get it." I decided to continue. "So, Lady Ài also told me that my soulmate is about a year younger than I am now. Ty Lee's fourteen, so that fits."
Aang narrowed his eyes. "How do you know how old she is?"
"She's the same age as Azula. Azula's two years younger than Zuko. I know from the story that Zuko's sixteen." I answered.
Aang nodded. "Okay, that fits. What else?"
"The last thing Lady Ài told me was that my soulmate's a nonbender." I answered.
"And you told us that Ty Lee's a nonbender, so that fits." Katara said. "So, what did you learn from Roku?"
I thought back to my swamp vision. "Well, I tried asking him directly who his mother was and when I'd meet her, but he just giggled and said 'silly Daddy, you know Mommy.'." I recalled. "I thought it was just the vision being vague, but if you think about it, maybe he meant 'you've already met her'."
Sokka looked thoughtful, but then he nodded. "I guess that makes sense, and you've already met Ty Lee. Is there anything else?"
I nodded. "I asked him if he knew where you three were in the swamp, and if you were okay." I swallowed. "He told me that your auras were pretty orange, and you were worried."
Sokka and Katara looked totally lost, but Aang looked surprised. "He can see auras?" He asked. I nodded.
Sokka held his hand up. "Wait a second, what the heck are auras?"
"Everyone has a kind of spiritual energy, or aura, that flows within their body." Aang explained. "The aura changes its flow and color depending on your emotions. Some people are able to see them."
I raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised you know about them." I admitted. "Can you see them?"
Aang shook his head. "No, but I knew some people who could. It was a pretty rare gift. I knew maybe three people who could, and I met a lot of people before I was frozen."
"I see." I answered. "Anyway, I asked Roku if he could really see auras, and he said he could, 'just like Mommy.'." I paused and looked around the group. "Ty Lee can see auras."
Everyone was silent for a few more seconds. Then Katara spoke again. "Is there anything else?"
I nodded. "There's one last thing. Roku looks exactly like me, except for his eyes. My eyes are brown, but his are silver. Ty Lee's eyes are silver." I took a breath. "When I met Lady Ài, she said 'the eyes are the windows to the soul.'. I didn't know what she meant at the time, but I think she meant that I would realize that Ty Lee's my soulmate because she and Roku have the same eyes." I looked down. "I told Roku that he had his mother's eyes, and he said 'that's what you and Mommy always say.'."
I looked around the group. "That's all the evidence I have. What do you think?"
Katara looked me in the eye. "I think she is."
Aang nodded. "Everything you said adds up."
Sokka groaned. "Great. Now what are we supposed to do?! How can we fight her if you're supposed to end up with her?!"
I shook my head. "I don't know." I admitted. "I'll try to think of something."
AN: Sorry this took so long. Work has been pretty busy lately.
